Manchester City-Red Star is a match from the first day of the Champions League group stage and is played on Tuesday at 9pm: lineups, predictions.
Satisfaction to whom? Manchester City has shown that it does not even know the meaning of the word, despite winning everything there was to win a few months ago. Including that Champions League which, since the club was bought by Emirati ownership in 2007, it had never managed to lift, despite huge investments.
The defending champions in the season that has just begun have lost just one game, on penalty kicks, costing them the Community Shield (the English Super Cup). That is the only “blemish” in a string of victories: in addition to winning the European Super Cup, won on penalties with Sevilla, the Cityzens have always won in the first five days of the Premier League, remaining on full points. There have been no real direct clashes yet-the only level opponent was Newcastle, beaten 1-0 at Etihad Stadium-but the superiority Pep Guardiola’s men continue to demonstrate is truly disarming. We expect something similar in the Champions League, where the holders have landed in a group that should not hold any pitfalls. In addition to Leipzig, an opponent that City already faced in the last edition – memorable 7-0 in Manchester – there are also Red Star and Young Boys: the debut of Haaland and his teammates will take place precisely with the Serbs.
Red Star limps along
The Red Star is the absolute ruler of the Mozzart Bet Superliga, a league it has won for six consecutive years.
Olayinka
In the summer, the Belgrade club changed technical leadership: in place of Milos Milojevic came Barak Bakhar, former Maccabi Haifa coach who in the last edition of the Champions League contributed to the elimination of Juventus already after the group stage. The red and white started off on the right foot, winning four consecutive games. But, surprisingly, they lost two of their last three, coming up short in away matches against Vozdovac and Cuckaricki. Red Star’s defense has creaked – six goals conceded in 270′ – and in the standings Bakhar’s men have been overtaken in second place by their cousins Partizan. There is no previous record between the Serbs and Manchester City. The track record with English clubs is in each case negative (seven wins, six draws and nine defeats).
The prediction
Guardiola can currently afford to field the best, with the exception of the injured De Bruyne. Grealish, Kovavic and Stones remain in doubt, but the lineup the Catalan coach will field will be enough to get the better of Red Star, which is unlikely to do any damage control. Manchester City should score between three and six goals, and one of them will almost certainly have Erling Haaland’s signature on it.
The likely lineups for Manchester City-Red Star
- MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ruben Dias, Aké; Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Foden, Julian Alvarez, Doku; Haaland.
- RED STAR (3-5-2): Glazer; Mijailovic, Dragovic, Rodic; Bukari, Krasso, Stamenic, Kangwa, Mitrovic; Lucic, Olayinka.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-0